The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as etching apparatus.
In general, in semiconductor device manufacturing processes, an object such as a semiconductor wafer or the like to be processed is carried into a vacuum processing chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and many processes are performed under an atmosphere of reduced pressure.
Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which implement processes to an object to be processed under conditions of reduced pressure return the pressure inside the vacuum processing chamber to atmospheric pressure and again reduce the pressure each time the semiconductor wafer or the object of processing is carried into and out of the vacuum processing chamber, and this causes a reduction of the throughput (the amount of work performed in a unit time). Because of this, there are many cases where there is a spare vacuum chamber termed a load lock chamber, the internal volume of which is less than that of the vacuum processing chamber.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, in a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus (such as an etching apparatus or the like) where processing to an object to be processed is performed under an atmosphere of reduced pressure, there are provided two load lock chambers 3a, 3b adjacent to a vacuum processing chamber 2 and semiconductor wafers or some other object of processing 4 are carried into the vacuum processing chamber 2 by a conveyor arm 5a, and after processing, the semiconductor wafers or some other objects of processing 4 are carried out via the other load lock chamber 3b by the conveyor arm 5b. Doing this improves the throughput of the entire semiconductor manufacturing apparatus since the semiconductor wafers or some other objects of processing 4 can be carried into and out of the vacuum processing chamber 2 without the inside of the vacuum processing chamber 2 having to be returned to normal pressure.
Moreover, in the process for the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, dust generated in the processes causes an adverse influence to the formation of fine patterns and the like and because of this, the manufacturing apparatus is installed in a clean room which always has a downflow of cleaned air flowing from the ceiling to the floor.
However, in recent years, there has been a rapid tendency for semiconductor devices to require higher degrees of integration and fineness, and because of this, there has been an increase in the number of semiconductor manufacturing apparatus required since there is a larger number of processes. Moreover, the area of the clean room in which these semiconductor manufacturing apparatus must be installed increases, the facility cost increases and there is the problem of a rise in the manufacturing cost.